castration

[K99]

I had my dog in to be castrated today.  He is fine just a bit sleepy but he seems to be ignoring me as if he is in a huff.  Do you think this is just because of the anaesthetist and being tired etc... or do you think its because he knows what I've done and having to leave him and the vets all day?

[vehelpfulguy]

Well how would you feel if the role had been reversed and he had taken you to be 'done'   :-)

[K99]

I know I feel awful, I didn't want to get him done but my boyfriend insisted

[shaneystar]

He will be fine It takes time for the anaesthetic to wear off just the same as it would with us after an op. He could be a bit sulky after being left all day at the vets and after all they don' t really understand why.Give him lots of fuss and extra treats.
Don' t feel guilty. We had our dog done when he was about two.If you are not going to breed from him,what he hasn't had he won't miss.
Our dog was a nightmare beforehand..off after every scent of a female,howling at the moon,wouldn't eat.trying to escape..--I could go on and on!!
Keep him on the lead until he has the stitches out and in a couple of months he will be cool calm and collected.
Mr. S and my son were dead anti at the time but they were not the ones who had to put up with naughty behaviour all the time!! Good Luck with him x

[drgnrdr]

You said it shaneystar, he might be a bit out of sorts because his routine was off. Dogs do not seek revenge they do not scheme against us, they don't have those "human" traits. It will take some time for the testosterone to get out of his system, males have it flowing 100% in them and at different times of the year they get an extra "burst" of it, so it takes a few months to get the level down where you will see better behavior, but, if they have gotten into a habit of: marking, mounting, posturing, then he may not completely stop those behaviors, habits are harder to break, that's what training is for, if this was done early enough, you may have nipped those problems in the bud...so to speak...LOL

[shaneystar]

Quite so ...and if there were more responsible owners around like k99 then there wouldn't be so many poor animals dumped and left in rescue centres after unscrupulous owners have bred from them and when they are no further use to them abandon them.

[drgnrdr]

I applaud K99's boyfriend for saying it should be done, most men don't want their male dogs neutered, they put human male ideals and thoughts on the dog, when the dog has no feelings on if they look intact or not, if they need to be intact to "feel" like a male dog, but so much "health wise"  and "behavior wise" can benefit the neutered male. So "Cheers!" to your boyfriend K99

[stefanja]

Sometimes we do things to animals against their character and will.  It could be that your dog resented the fact his "manhood" for want of a better word was taken away from him, and he had no choice in the matter.

 

Know of two horses that were gelded, to !quieten them down" so I gathered!.  One didn't mind but the other did.  He was a beautiful horse and loved to jump but every so after after this he would just refuse for no apparent reason.  In the end he had to be kept because he was not considered safe to sell, as he was unpredictable.

 

Interestingly, the owner said that she had second thoughts about having the horse castrated, but she hadn't rung the vet in time to cancel the op.

 

Just a thought!

 

Stefanja

[drgnrdr]

LOL.. had to laugh at the above post. if what you say is true then maybe the horse decided not to jump anymore because you were forcing them too, and just decided with his own "free will" that you say he had, he didn't want to do it any longer for his own reasons. It had nothing to do with gelding, it was a coincidence. So many people "compare" dogs and cats and horses, to humans, and give them our own human traits, if this is the case then they may be trying to tell us NOT to compare them with us, they are better than us and don't insult them....LOL

[Eels]

A dog having the reasoning ability to 'resent' its owner because its manhood has been taken away ...!??!  This isn't some sort of Orwell book we live in, it's the real world, and when a dog is taken to the vet for castration it has NO understanding of why it is there, what has been done to it and who sanctioned the operation.  All a dog knows is that it has a bit of an ache where its balls used to be, feels hungover from the anaesthetic and is in a strange place.  For that alone I think we should forgive our pets for feeling a bit 'off' when they get home afterwards.  'Blame' and 'resentment' don't come into it, I'm afraid!